I’m just so amped to be back. I can’t put into words how insanely amazing you guys are to have been understanding and stick with me here. I read every comment/message you guys left me. I won’t forget it. The hiatus did kinda mess with my usual end of season into the off-season flow though, so I might change up my usual off-season plan to build out the Sneak Peek’s of the main lists (Dynasty, Prospect, FYPD) earlier in the off-season than usual. I’m still working out my exact off-season schedule, but I’m going to do my best to figure it out. My off-season content on the Patreon is going to be jampacked with Dynasty Team Reports (Top 10 Prospects/Interesting MLB guys/Strategy section), Target Articles, Deep Positional Rankings, Sneak Peeks of the 3 main lists (Top 1,000+ Dynasty, Top 500+ Prospects, Top 100+ FYPD), and so much more. I’ll be posting some free posts here on the Brick Wall like I do during the regular season. So without further ado, I decided to kick off the off-season festivities with A Top 24 Sneak Peek of the 2027 Top 1,000 Dynasty Baseball Rankings (and yes, it’s a Top 24 and not Top 25 because I was agonizing over who to put 25, and I want more time to think about it). The Top 5 are free here on the Brick Wall:
-SNEAK PEEKS OF THE 3 MAIN LISTS (TOP 1000+ DYNASTY, TOP 500+ PROSPECT, TOP 100+ FYPD)
-DEEP POSITIONAL RANKINGS
-DYNASTY TEAM REPORTS (TOP 10 PROSPECTS/INTERESTING MLB GUYS/STRATEGY SECTION)
-POSITION BY POSITION TARGET ARTICLES
-PREDICTING FUTURE PROSPECT LISTS
-AND SO MUCH MORE
1) Pete Crow-Armstrong – CHC, OF, 25.0 – Like you didn’t already know Pete Crow was going to be my new #1 Dynasty Baseball Asset 😉 … Don’t act surprised … the Vegas odds on Halp having PCA #1 was -9000. And yes, I now refer to myself in the 3rd person after my little 2nd half of the season hiatus. The fingers are well rested, the brain is in a free flow state, and PCA’s ascension to the #1 dynasty player in game has me shot out of a cannon for the kick off to the 2027 Off-Season Content. And it’s not just me playing favorites. The cold hard analysis backs me up fully. He majorly improved his biggest weakness with his Chase% going from 41.7% to 34.2%, leading to his walk rate skyrocketing to 11.4%. His whiff% took a big step forward (28.9% to 26.3%). His raw power took a big step forward with a 48.6% Hard Hit%. He remained a lift/pull god. He remained a base stealing demon. He remained an elite CF. And it all led to the insane season I knew he had in him, going 45/41 with a .290 BA. Every other contender for this top spot is either older, and/or doesn’t run as much, and/or doesn’t lift/pull as much. I have been hyping PCA so hard as a Target since the day he was drafted and every year since then. I didn’t get scared off by his down 2025 2nd half at all, ranking him 21st overall and writing, “I’m betting on the plate approach improving as he matures. Pete Crow has already paid off majorly if you’ve taken my advice over his career, and I’ll be happy to keep buying if people are scared off by the 2nd half.” … He led my 18 team league to a championship season, along with a core of James Wood, Ben Rice, Chase Burns, Andy Pages, and Konnor Griffin (all past Targets/favorites of mine, showing I put my money where my mouth is). Damn it feels great when a rebuild pays off. So yea, PCA is a favorite of mine, as you well know, but that isn’t the reason he sits #1. It’s because he deserves it. – 2027 Projection: 111/36/106/.265/.348/.521/36
2) Elly De La Cruz – CIN, SS, 25.3 – The only place Elly really falls short of Pete Crow is in lift/pull. The 9.9 degree launch and 12.1% Air Pull% just puts some kind of cap on the homer upside. Elly’s raw power exploded to such elite levels (94.7 MPH EV with a 53.7% Hard Hit%) that he did just fine, jacking out a career high 30 homers in 143 games, but when you are picking nits amongst the most talented players in the game, it’s a factor. You just have to look at Vlad Guerrero Jr. to see that it matters, unfortunately. But comparison is the thief of joy, so Elly’s breakout/leveling up in 2026 deserves it’s time to shine. The hit tool is really completely out of the danger zone now that he lowered his whiff% to a not bad at all 28.1%. The 25.1% Chase% was a career best as well. The lift/pull may cap the homer upside a bit, but it does wonders for his BA with a .283 BA and .281 xBA. I remember when Elly was a young lad in Single-A with a 31.0/4.0 K%/BB% and people were wondering if he was ever going to hit enough. Now he’s a grown man, true talent .280 hitter. If anyone tells you you can’t do something, just look at Elly, and say, if an elite athlete with the best coaching in the world can do it, so can I 😉 … The only even small blemish is that his sprint tanked from 29.1 ft/sec to 28.4 ft/sec, and it’s in a 4 year decline. Maybe you can blame a couple leg injuries from this year, and he still stole 30 bags, so I’m not concerned, but it’s worth mentioning. If Elly actually can start lifting/pulling more, my goodness, but he doesn’t have to to have a real argument for #1 overall. – 2027 Projection: 110/30/93/.271/.354/.493/32
3) Shohei Ohtani – LAD, RHP/DH, 32.9 – I think we’ve reached the point where we have to start taking Ohtani’s age into account at least a little bit for dynasty. He’ll turn 33 during the 2027 season, and he’s coming off a season where his body prevented him from truly being unleashed as both a hitter and pitcher. He was shut down from pitching in July due to knee and arm injuries, and he had a pedestrian season by his standards on offense with 30 homers, 11 steals, and a .889 OPS in 139 games. Crazy to say a .889 OPS with a 1.79 ERA in 85.2 IP is showing signs of maybe taking his age into account more, but it gave the first glimpses into the Dodgers being willing to wrap him in bubble wrap in order to keep him healthy for the long term. They are paying this man until he’s literally 50 years old! They have to keep him healthy. He’s going to make 68 million dollars in 2043!!!! Rest that arm big man! Like I wrote last year when I ranked him #1 overall, I’m betting on him being a beast deep into his 30’s, and he’s fully expected to get back on the mound in 2027, but with the Dodgers sure to be extra careful with him as he gets deeper into his 30’s, I’m moving him out of the top spot. – 2027 Projection: 112/43/101/.281/.388/.551/14 // 10/2.90/1.03/146 in 125 IP
4) Juan Soto – NYM, OF, 28.6 – Man, Juan Soto is 28 years old already. A damn near old man in dynasty baseball years. Time flies when you’re having fun I guess, because it felt like yesterday when he was a young phenom. Now he’s an old phenom. Or more accurately, a prime age phenom who is coming off his 9th straight season of dominance. His .411 xwOBA was 2nd in all of baseball behind only Yordan Alvarez. The days of even being worried a little bit about low launches are over as his 16 degree launch was a career high by far. His 19.3% Air Pull% was a career high as well. And he did that while also putting up a career best 13.5% K%. The bat is simply on another plane, even compared to the guys ranked above him on this list. The only question is steals. The 38 steals from 2025 dropped off a cliff, but at least some of that could be blamed on two separate calf strains, the first of which was in April. We can’t expect big steal totals, especially as he gets older, but I wouldn’t rule out him pushing 20 again in a healthy season. Soto remains a Tier 1 elite dynasty asset and still has a case to be #1 overall, especially in leagues that devalue steals (points, 6+ cat leagues). – 2027 Projection: 110/39/100/.278/.397/.530/15
5) Bobby Witt Jr. – KCR, SS, 27.10 – Make that 2 years in a row with subpar homer totals, and this year it got even worse with Witt hitting only 18 homers. But this year in particular it just doesn’t add up. The 50.3% Hard Hit% was a career high. The 16.4 degree launch and 16.3% Air Pull% are both up from 2025. The .378 xwOBA was much better than the .345 wOBA. I’m just not buying at all that these depressed homer totals are now who he is. You can’t even blame the ballpark anymore as Kauffman Field is now a better than average homerun park, and he hit 13 at home vs only 5 on the road. There is no way this is anything else but an aberration, and once that aberration corrects itself, the elite speed (45 steals) and high BA (career .288 BA with a .302 xBA in 2026) are going to bring him right back up to the top of the player rater. Even with the terrible power numbers, he still finished 29th overall on the Razzball Player Rater. I’m still going to rank this man like the elite dynasty asset that he is. – 2027 Projection: 101/26/89/.288/.352/.489/40
-SNEAK PEEKS OF THE 3 MAIN LISTS (TOP 1000+ DYNASTY, TOP 500+ PROSPECT, TOP 100+ FYPD)
-DEEP POSITIONAL RANKINGS
-DYNASTY TEAM REPORTS (TOP 10 PROSPECTS/INTERESTING MLB GUYS/STRATEGY SECTION)
-POSITION BY POSITION TARGET ARTICLES
-PREDICTING FUTURE PROSPECT LISTS
-AND SO MUCH MORE
By Michael Halpern (@MichaelCHalpern)
Email: michaelhalpern@imaginarybrickwall.com
Twitter: Imaginary Brick Wall (@DynastyHalp)
Blue Sky: Dynasty Halp (@ImaginaryBrickWall)